


the sun always rises

by novictorieswithoutlove



Category: Gallagher Girls Series - Ally Carter
Genre: But they’re gonna be okay don’t worry, Cammie likes to sit sideways in Zach’s lap sorry I don’t make the rules, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, I’m weirdly fond of them as you all may have noticed, Of course they have nightmares, These kiddos have been through a lot, yes it’s another fic with a pretentious all lower case title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:55:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24003190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novictorieswithoutlove/pseuds/novictorieswithoutlove
Summary: Zach helps Cammie with the aftermath of a nightmare. Set in United We Spy, during that lovely mid-semester period when nothing notable happened.
Relationships: Zachary Goode/Cameron Morgan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 74





	the sun always rises

**Author's Note:**

> In which my “I can’t write unless I’m sleep deprived” character flaw rears its weary head once again. One day I will conquer the creative output corner of my brain, and it will finally let me write at any hour of the day, not just when the sun is asleep.
> 
> But today is not that day!

A feather-light touch on his arm woke Zach from an admittedly not-very-deep slumber. 

A few months ago, Zach would have bent that hand backwards and had its owner in a restraining hold on the floor before his conscious mind was even aware of an intruder. He’d had eighteen years of reasons to hone that instinctive reaction, and it was a difficult instinct to subdue or change, but Zach had successfully taught his subconscious one exception. 

Because last autumn, Cammie had come to him in the middle of the night, wide eyed and trembling after a nightmare about the Tombs at Blackthorne. He’d died, she told him, in her dream. And she’d needed to see for herself that he was still breathing. (Zach understood that urge completely; he’d be lying if he said that he‘d never woken up in a cold sweat from a nightmare where Cammie had never come home at all, and immediately run upstairs to make sure he hadn’t been hallucinating seeing her the day before.) And if there was any one thing that was fundamentally true about Zachary Goode, it’s that he was thoroughly, completely, encompassingly in love with Cameron Morgan, and if there was a second thing it was that he couldn’t stand to see her hurting. Zach couldn’t stop her from having nightmares, as much as he wished otherwise, but he could make sure that he’d never hurt her by accident if she came to check on him during the night. So he’d learned. He created a Cammie-shaped hole in his defenses, and just now she’d slid through that gap in his walls as easily as she slipped through any crowd or secret passage.

Once Zach had blinked enough sleep out of his eyes to see, he knew that tonight had been particularly rough for her— her hair was matted to her temples from sweat, her cheeks were red and raw where she’d scrubbed tears from them, and as he watched, a fresh tear tracked down her face. Without a word, Zach got up and pulled her into his arms. 

They didn’t dare seek each other out every time one of them had a bad night, because those happened at least twice a week, and the staff could only look the other way about the two of them meeting each other in their bedrooms so many times before they’d be forced to give them an ultimatum. It was a delicate situation, and out of respect for the leniency they’d already been granted (with respect to this, and the many, many other times they’d broken the rules... and the law) they were careful to not push their freedom too far. But some nights were bad enough that they couldn’t wait until the morning to see each other, and tonight, unfortunately, it seemed to be Cammie’s turn to be woken by a particularly bad nightmare.

In the interest of not making the school have to come up with new rules about boys in girl’s bedrooms and vice versa, on nights like this they always relocated to a neutral location. Tonight it was the library. Zach settled himself on one of the couches near a window, and Cammie sat sideways, slung her legs over his lap and tucked her head under his chin. Zach slid an arm around her waist, stroked his thumb up and down her side in a repetitive smoothing motion, and breathed in the faint floral scent of her hair as he waited for her to find her words.

The sky had lightened by several degrees before Cammie finally spoke. “It was you again tonight. And Bex.”

Zach winced. He knew which two occasions those words referenced, and he’d had his own recurring nightmares about them. To distract himself from that line of thought he began gently combing through her hair with his free hand. She relaxed into his touch and for a little while longer there was a comfortable silence between them.

“You know, I’m kind of mad. I don’t remember doing anything yesterday to trigger either of those memories, and both at once is really kind of unnecessary.”

“It really is,” he affirmed.

Cammie rubbed at her shoulder where Dr. Steve had shot her. The injury had healed, but Zach knew it still ached sometimes, especially if she’d slept on it funny. 

“I thought I was doing better.” She exhaled heavily. “I mean, I am doing better. But then there’s nights like tonight...”

“And it feels like you’re backsliding because it hits harder than it used to?” Zach guessed. 

“Yeah,” she sighed.

“It’s probably just that you’re not as used to the intensity anymore because you’re having less of them. That’s how it’s been with me.”

“Probably.” She agreed. Then she shifted and curled further into his hold. Zach was glad there was no one around to witness them, because he was pretty sure he had a really stupid looking grin on his face just then. 

“Hey Zach?”

“Yeah?”

“When was your last nightmare? I was just thinking, you haven’t come up to the room in a while.”

“Two nights ago.”

“You didn’t tell me.” Zach couldn’t see her face with her still tucked into the juncture between his neck and shoulder, but he was sure from her tone that she was frowning.

“It wasn’t really a bad one.“

“...Zach, you literally just told me they were worse than they used to be by comparison.”

“Only by comparison. My head’s running out of new ways to torment me and it’s showing reruns now.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It needs work,” he conceded. “But it really wasn’t all that bad, Cam. I even managed to go back to sleep after.”

“Alright. Well— not alright, but...“

Zach laughed softly. “I know what you meant, Gallagher Girl.”

“You can always wake me up if you need me, Zach. You know that, right?” 

“Yeah. I know.” Zach pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m glad you came to get me tonight.”

“Because you just got to spend an hour cuddling with your girlfriend?”

“No. Well, yes,” he amended. Cammie laughed. “But I’m happy you trust me enough to let me help.”

Cammie untucked her head and looked at him for a long moment. She smiled softly.

“You do help. You really do.” She rested a hand on the side of his face and he turned to press a kiss to her palm.

“Good,” he said. 

Her eyes were still red from crying earlier this morning, but that was overshadowed by the playful spark in her gaze as she told him, 

“You missed, you know.” 

“Oh, I did?” Zach feigned ignorance.

“Mmhm. You did. Missed by a mile. I think you might need remedial target practice.” 

“I don’t suppose you know anyone who’d be willing to tutor me?”

“As it happens, I do.” Her hand slid from his face, around the back of his neck, and wound into his hair. She guided him toward her with gentle pressure, and he gladly accepted the silent instruction.

By the time they stopped kissing, the sky had lightened to a shade that said dawn wasn’t far away. Cammie was the one to pull back, but she looked regretful.

“We should get back to our rooms soon. The early birds like Liz are going to start getting up soon, and people gossip about us enough already without someone catching us in the halls in our pajamas.”

“Because what’s going on the run and taking down a terrorist organization next to getting caught with a boy?” 

Cammie snorted. “Welcome to Spy Girl school, Zach.” They untangled themselves and stood up. Zach leaned down for one last kiss.

“See you at breakfast.”

“Right, breakfast. Where we will be seeing each other for the first time since ten o’clock last night,” Cammie deadpanned, crossing over to the fireplace and triggering the secret passage opening. 

“Exactly.” Zach walked backwards toward the library doors to keep her in sight as long as possible, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Save me a waffle,” Cammie said with a smile. She ducked into the passage, but before it shut behind her she made sure to yell, “but don’t pour the syrup! I have a system!” 

Zach couldn’t help but laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was mostly inspired by Aubreigh giving me feelings over these two on Tumblr, and also a little bit by that part in UWS when Zach doesn’t realize it’s Cammie coming through his door and he kind of yeets her across the room and is IMMEDIATELY “oh shit” about it. Because we all know our boy is hilariously in love with Cammie Morgan, but I don’t think I ever realized how _gentle_ he is with her (presumably excepting P&E classes, because she’d kick his ass if she thought he was going easy on her) until there was that moment to compare his past and future actions to.
> 
> Seriously. The word “gentle” starts popping up as a descriptor for how he looks at and how he touches her (see: that time she whacks her head on the fireplace and he insists on checking the bump himself) even in book _two._


End file.
